Travel Trailer Tires

[CThompson]

I am in the market for a new set of tires for a travel trailer which weighs approx 10K. Does anyone have any experieances with Goodyear Marathon. What other brands would you recommend?

 

[RustyJC]

If your TT has 16" wheels, I would highly recommend going to the Michelin XPS Rib of the appropriate size. This is an all steel construction radial that is a scaled down version of their Class 8 over the road commercial trailer tire. It's not cheap, but it doesn't have the tread separation problems associated with the fabric/steel construction LT tires such as the Goodyear Marathon and Goodyear Wrangler when used in heavily loaded TT/5th wheel service.



Actually, the $800 I spent for the Michelin XPS Ribs for our 13,500 lb 36' 5th wheel is cheap compared to the $2400 damage estimate for repairs of our previous 5ver due to tread separation on a 15" Goodyear Marathon!



Rusty

 

[clem]

The Good Year Marathon trailer tire have had there problems. GOOD YEAR has stood behind them. There is a new Marathon out that has a "S" on the side wall for steel. If you run the "D" rated tires at 60 psi they should be OK . Ran them on our Tri axle 34 ft Avions no problems (running over curbs is not a tire problem) and the wife over loaded the trailer I am here to tell you about 12K. We now over load a 38ft Avion 5th wheel that has Good Year G 614 tires on it they are "G" rated at 110psi they 235/85x16 now Good Year is the only one that makes that tire. Now I know you will hear all kinds of tails. When I have had tires problems Good Year Has ALWAYS stood behind them. Now if you raise 6 kinds of hell or run in to a dead head. You won't get any where,but call there 800 # they won't get you fixed up in the next 5 min. But they will come through. Good Luck Clem

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[Ron Bissett]

Have the new Good Year Marathon with Circle S inflated to max on tire no problems . Had the no Circle S , called the 800 and they said go the dealer here in Louisville KY and trade for new tires cost me four,$ 4 here in Ky for disposal of old tires , no charge for mounting . The tires were four years old and came on the used trailer the tires showed little ware so no charge for ware. I have no problems at all with them . Ron Bissett in Metro Louisville KY entry level for forty years .

 

[Bill Stockard]

FWIW, the Goodyear Marathons are ST rated tires not LT rated as the 16" Goodyear Wranglers. I too had no problems at all with the Marathons and wore out several sets back before the "S" designation on a Hitchhiker II 5th wheel.



When we traded to a larger heavier 5th wheel with 16" wheels, I had a lot of problems with the Goodyear Wrangler HT tires which were LT rated. I put on a set Michelin XPS radials and ended my tire problems.



Bill

 

[Buffalo]

See if you can find the Towmaster brand by Greenball or, the Carlisle brand. I did some research on this last year and found that these tires and possibly more, are all made by Goodyear. They all came off the same assembly line. Just different names. With Goodyear, your'e paying for the advertising and the Blimp! I paid approximately $70. 00 ea. , for Towmaster's 225-75-15 load range D, at Discount Tire hear in Phoenix, Az. Hope this helps. Joe

 

[clem]

Started towing trailers back in 56. Have seen alot of things. The one that always gets me is the guy with a tow rig that would not make it down the street ,if it were mine and here he is in Alaska on a 2 week trip from Fl with 6 diff brand tires and sizes,bald. Now me I have to stay with some thing you can buy any whare not just at JOE"s Farm and Ranch in U. P Michigan! Thats just the way I sees IT

 

[Matt42]

Originally posted by Buffalo

See if you can find the Towmaster brand by Greenball or, the Carlisle brand. I did some research on this last year and found that these tires and possibly more, are all made by Goodyear. They all came off the same assembly line. Just different names. With Goodyear, your'e paying for the advertising and the Blimp! I paid approximately $70. 00 ea. , for Towmaster's 225-75-15 load range D, at Discount Tire hear in Phoenix, Az. Hope this helps. Joe

With all due respect, Greenball, Towmaster, and Carlisle tires are not made by Goodyear. Greenball Towmasters are made in the Far East, and I had a set of them. For exactly 159 miles. They were junk, in my opinion. One of them lost 30 PSI per day by oozing through the inadequate butyl liner. The remaining three oozed air, just not as fast. (In my experience, every Far Eastern tire I've ever used, including Japanese-made Bridgestones, lost pressure at an unacceptable rate. The Greenballs held the record, though. )



Discount Tire replaced my Greenballs with Carlisles, no questions asked, for the price difference.



I've heard mixed rumours about Carlisles. I've been told that they are using an obsolete tire mould system "given" to them by Goodyear. This is the first time I've heard that Carlisle IS Goodyear. Most of the Carlisle tires I see are on wheelbarrows, ATVs, and riding lawn mowers. That's not, in my opinion, a great recommendation for tires to be used at high speeds when the road surface is over 140F.



So far, my set of Carlisles has been satisfactory, but I have sincere doubts about their heat resistance capability. I never drive over 65 mph when towing. The experience of others bears out those doubts. I wish I had installed Michelin LTX LT-215/75R15 truck tires. Sure, I've read all the "truck tires don't flex right" and other stuff. But where I live, heat resistance is way more important.



My work trailer uses Michelin XPS rib tires, and I wish I could get them for my TT.

 

[RustyJC]

A Suggestion Based on Experience

As I posted earlier, if your TT/5th wheel tires are going to be carrying anything close to their maximum load rating, don't make this purchase decision based strictly on price. This is not the place to "cheap out"! An $800 set of Michelin XPS Ribs for our 5ver was a reasonable investment when compared to the $2400 in damage our previous 5ver suffered due to a tread separation, a problem much more commonplace with larger 5th wheels than we're used to seeing with our trucks.



Rusty

 

[Matt42]

Re: A Suggestion Based on Experience

Originally posted by RustyJC

As I posted earlier, if your TT/5th wheel tires are going to be carrying anything close to their maximum load rating, don't make this purchase decision based strictly on price. This is not the place to "cheap out"! An $800 set of Michelin XPS Ribs for our 5ver was a reasonable investment when compared to the $2400 in damage our previous 5ver suffered due to a tread separation, a problem much more commonplace with larger 5th wheels than we're used to seeing with our trucks.



Rusty

I absolutely, positively agree.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

After ply separations with Marathons and Nankangs, I asked my tire guy what to get. His distributor said the Tow-masters had less problems than any of the others he knew about, so I now have a set of them in 225-75-15D. They were made in Canada.

 

[Matt42]

Hmmm. The TowMasters I bought were made in Indonesia, as were all those in stock. Canadian made tires may be better. The bias ply is less likely to do damage if it disintigrates.

 

[Buffalo]

Matt Shumaker, The Towmaster's I have were made in Canada, also, like Joe Donnely's. I've towed from Phoenix to California to W. Virginia with no problems, at all. My buddy who bought his at the same time has not had any problems, either. The information I got regarding Goodyear manufacturing the Towmaster's was from Craig at Greenball 1-310-669-2626. The information regarding Goodyear manufacturing Carlisle's was from Leo Garbarino 1-800-367-5710. Both of these men said their tires were manufactured using the "Goodyear Marathon Carcass". The "old" style tire used plies of steel and polyester. When they got hot they expanded until they eventually exploded. The "new' style, as was explained to me, incorporates an outer belt of nylon, on the tread belts. The nylon is not supposed to expand when it gets hot. It, kind of, acts like a "girdle" holding the steel and polyester in place. Matt, You may have the new style(with nylon) Carlisle's. Were the old Towmaster's bias ply? The information I got regarding the nylon belt I got from Kris Fettig, Marketing Specialist RV Tires, with Goodyear, Akron, OH. !-330-796-0026. I'm not a tire expert! I'm just sharing the information I got from doing a little research. Joe Fihn, Phoenix.

 

[bdaniel]

I fixed my exploding tire problems when I went to a Michelin 16 inch LT 245/75-R16 load range E tire.



Details are on my web site.



Bobby

 

[Matt42]

Originally posted by Buffalo

Matt Shumaker, The Towmaster's I have were made in Canada, also, like Joe Donnely's. I've towed from Phoenix to California to W. Virginia with no problems, at all. My buddy who bought his at the same time has not had any problems, either. The information I got regarding Goodyear manufacturing the Towmaster's was from Craig at Greenball 1-310-669-2626. The information regarding Goodyear manufacturing Carlisle's was from Leo Garbarino 1-800-367-5710. Both of these men said their tires were manufactured using the "Goodyear Marathon Carcass". The "old" style tire used plies of steel and polyester. When they got hot they expanded until they eventually exploded. The "new' style, as was explained to me, incorporates an outer belt of nylon, on the tread belts. The nylon is not supposed to expand when it gets hot. It, kind of, acts like a "girdle" holding the steel and polyester in place. Matt, You may have the new style(with nylon) Carlisle's. Were the old Towmaster's bias ply? The information I got regarding the nylon belt I got from Kris Fettig, Marketing Specialist RV Tires, with Goodyear, Akron, OH. !-330-796-0026. I'm not a tire expert! I'm just sharing the information I got from doing a little research. Joe Fihn, Phoenix.

Joe: Fascinating and well-documented info. Are any of these companies subsidiaries of Goodyear? I recall when I bought the Carlisles that the Discount Tire person said that they were made on Goodyear moulding machinery.



The tow masters I had were bias ply, and made in Indonseia. (Are yours radial?) They were junk, wouldn't hold air, and wouldn't track. The Carlisle tires I bought don't have a nylon belt. (Should I worry?) Just two polyester plies and two steel belts. They've been OK so far, but I replace trailer tires after a few years, even if idle.



Much of my radial tire cynicism dates back many years to when I was working as a tech in an independent Goodyear tire store in L. A. County. This was when Firestone was dealing (badly) with the Firestone 500 problems. The store owner would say anything to sell tires. If he thought he'd get a sale by saying that some off-brand tire was made by Goodyear or Michelin or the Archbishop of Canterbury, he'd say it. (Unfortunately, I've seen that over and over elsewhere, to the point where I almost never believe it--but it sometimes turns out to be true. )javascript:smilie('')



The dealer had many elderly customers. They would come in with five bad Firestone 500s. He'd then take them sympathetically by the shoulder and sell them a set of Atlas Goldenaire II tires, which were contract branded Firestone 500s. Michelin tires cost a few dollars more, but he made more net profit on the Atlas tires. What I saw was many problems with the Atlas/Firestone tires, some with the Goodyears, and never any with the Michelin tires.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

I bought the Tow-Masters last September. They are radials, with 2 polyester belts, 2 steel belts, and 2 nylon belts on the tread, and 2 polyester plies in the sidewalls.



My trailer weighs not over 6000 lb. At 2540 lb each tire, they are far from overloaded. It may be that they do not like going the speed limit on the interstate (heat buildup???). At this point I carry two new spare tires and don't trust any of the 6, regardless of brand. Every stop I put on a glove and run my hand over the tread checking for bulges=ply separation. I'd pay double for tires I could trust, but now that we have bean counters running everything. . . I guess all the tire companies have "forgotten" everything they learned in the 100+ years they have been making tires. . . except profit.

 

[Matt42]

I bought my Carlisles last June. I will watch for the Tow Master radials next time around. I have to say, though, I may go with Michelin LT tires due to my experience factor.



With my Carlisles, I keep my speed at 65 or below due to the heat factor. It's a problem on most Interstates, so I try to keep to secondary Hwys.

 

[tschwab]

I just replaced my Carlisle tires on my 5th wheel (8500 lbs dry weight) load range D, 15", due to TWO blowouts from tire separation this year. Fortunatley, no damage to the 5vr. The tires were slightly over two years old with less than 5k miles on them.



The first blowout was mild as another car pulled along side of us as we were traveling down the hwy and told us our tire was low, so I was able to pull off before it completely disinegrated.



The second blowout (the bad one) happened on our next RV outing, was about 30 miles into the start of our tow on a 2 lane hwy, I look in the mirror and a big cloud of smoke, I imediatley slow down and look again, like two seconds later and sparks are flying (looks like a welding torch) as my rim is dragging on the cement at 50 mph.



Long story short, I replaced them with Allied tires purchased through Les Schwab and so far no problems. Max PSI is 65 cold, Les Schwab told me to only go to 60 PSI cold.



IMHO Carlisle tires are junk. BTW, when Les Schwab pulled the remaining Carlisles off, they said that 2 of the 3 remaining tires were begining to separate.



Another thing a lot of RV'ers don't do, is to have their TT or 5vr axles aligned, cheap insurance if it helps to prevent a blowout. Nothing worse than trying to change a tire on a 2 lane hwy or the side of the freeway with semi's and clueless other drivers whizzing by at70+ mph.

 

[clem]

Find me a Michelin 235/85x16 Load range "G" no miss print

 

[Buffalo]

Matt Shumaker, Regarding Your questions, I do not believe Greenball (Towmaster) or Carlisle are subsidiaries of Goodyear. I think they are independent companies that "farm-out" the manufacturing of certain tires to other companies. Something like, Sears doesn't make appliances. They have companies like Whirlpool, etc. make them, and put the Kenmore label on. My understanding after talking to Greenball, Carlisle and, Goodyear is that Goodyear does all the manufacturing with their supplies and equipment and molds the other companies name on the side of the tire. They go down the same assembly line as the Marathon's. You asked whether my tires were radials. Yes they are, 225-75-15, load range D. Regarding the question of NOT having nylon belts in your Carlisle's, I was told by the Goodyear rep. at the RV show in Quartzite, Az. , last January, that the nylon belt was the key to making these tires stay together. Kris Fettig , as I understand, is the person that takes care of the tire problems in the southwestern U. S. IMO, I would be concerned about tires without the nylon. A friend of mine blew 2 Matrathons (W/O nylon), on a trip. The second one was the spare. Wasn't even on the ground. Hope this helps. Joe Fihn-(Buffalo) Pnx. Az.